Pace Environmental Notes, the weblog of the Pace University School of Law’s Environmental Collection, is a gateway to news, recent books and articles, information resources, and legal research strategies relevant to the fields of environmental, energy, land use, animal law and other related disciplines.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Symposium on Legal Challenges and Opportunities for Offshore Wind and Hydrokinetic Energy Development in the Northeast -- Pace Law School

The Symposium will be held on Friday, March 2, 2012 at the New York State Judicial Institute, on the campus of Pace Law School in White Plains, NY.

Topic:

"President Obama’s 2011 State of the Union address outlined a target of meeting eighty percent of the United States’ electricity demand with clean energy sources by 2035. The Northeast is home to large centers of energy demand, as well as abundant offshore renewable energy resources and the region has a critical role to play in meeting the nation’s clean energy goals. The federal government and individual states are developing policy frameworks to foster greater offshore renewable energy development and private companies are moving forward with projects to capture wind and hydrokinetic energy in numerous areas along the Northeast coast. This one-day Symposium will focus on how federal and state legal frameworks regulate the development of offshore wind and hydrokinetic energy resources in the Northeast. Keynote speakers and panelists have been drawn from federal and state government agencies involved in policy making and permitting processes, environmental organizations, industry groups, legal practitioners, and academics with extensive expertise in these areas. Symposium attendees will be treated to in-depth discussions surrounding existing laws and proposed revisions to legal frameworks and policies that are driving and/or hindering the development of offshore wind and hydrokinetic facilities in the Northeast United States."